Supporting the Most Diverse Borough in NYC

Supporting the Most Diverse Borough in NYC

by Yanki Tshering

It’s been almost two years since we opened our office in Queens and it’s been one of the best decisions we ever made. Queens is New York City’s most diverse borough; 37% of the city’s  population is foreign born and half of them live in Queens. The benefits of working with this richly diverse group of entrepreneurs includes tasting the extraordinary cooking of chefs like David Wisdom, or experiencing the best pedicure and eyebrow threading in Queens, at Jenny Nails and Threading.

Last year, BCNA staff made loans to fifty three entrepreneurs in Queens totally $538,000  and provided, in partnership with the Queens Library, eleven workshops to a total of 168 aspiring entrepreneurs in English, Spanish, or Chinese. The loans helped create twenty eight new jobs and retain seventy four full-time positions. Because these services were possible, in large part, due to the support of a grant from Citi Community Development, we are delighted to announce that CCD has renewed their grant of $60,000 to continue to fund our services. In addition, this year, Valentine Perry Foundation has committed to providing a grant of $40,000 over two years to help us meet the increasing demand for services in Queens.

In addition to the fifty three new loans clients that our staff facilitated during Fiscal Year 2013, we also continued to provide services to an additional 55 businesses that are in the process of paying back $788,000 outstanding from loans made in previous years.

"Queens is a very vibrant community with many new small businesses, and entrepreneurship is an important focus in our mission to build and sustain communities," says Jill Kelly, BCNA Board Member and Deputy Regional Director, New York & Connecticut Region, Citi Community Development.

One of the ways we help new businesses in Queens (and all the boroughs) is with microloans. Ajesh Khanna, owner and manager of Jenny Nails and Threading, used a loan from BCNA to hire an additional employee to help her with increased demand for manicures, pedicures, and eyebrow threading, which is a popular technique in South Asia.

A second way is with our IDA Program, which matches savings with grants. Chef David Wisdom of ReCaFo, who serves delicious dishes from the Caribbean and his native Jamaican at a stand in a food court adjacent to Queens College instance, also has a growing catering business. David used his savings and match funds to purchase new catering utensils to help that part of his business expand.

We’re confident that, given the entrepreneurial spirit we see thriving in Queens, that branch of our office will continue to expand and continue to help Queens residents help make their business dreams a reality.